Magazine for the automatic feeding of objects



20, 1935. M. BIRKIGT MAGAZINE FOR THEXAUTOMATIC FEDING OF OBJECTS FiledDec. 21, 1935 A ..1 lllk.: L: i- -L E NQ NN Q lnllhlslhl'hla a m m 1 w n.j E,

' Patented-Aug. zo, 1935 'PATENT orf-ica mesma ron 'ma Ao'roMa'rrcFEEDING Y or omc'rs Marc BirkigtBois-Colombes, France ApplicationDecember 21, 1933, serial No. '103,496

A In Belgium November 16, 1933 6 Claims.

10 magazines have been previously lled.

The object of my invention is to provide a magazine of the type abovereferred to which is both more reliable and more eicient in working thanthe similar mechanisms -that have been used up to the present time. Tothis eilect, the magazine according to my invention includes aspiral-shaped slideway or guide in which the objects are stored, onebehind the other, and an arm slidably carried by a shaft subjected tothe action of elastic means tending to rotate it, the end of said armbeing caused to move along said slideway and bearing against the last ofthese objects so asto push it along this slideway. With thisarrangement, the whole of the objects present in the magazine is urgedtowardv the outlet thereof, which coincides with the outer end of saidspiral-shaped slideway.

Other featuresv of my invention will appear from the following detaileddescription thereof.

tion will be hereinafter described withreference to the accompanyingdrawing, given merelyby way of example, and inwhich:

' Fig. l is a sectional view, on the line i-I of Fig. 2, of a magazinefor the feeding of pins according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of thesame magazine on the line 2-2 of Fig.1.

It will-be assumed, in the following description,

' t that the magazine is intended te feedv substantially cylindricalpins to an automatic machinetool capable of machining them, but thisassumption is made merely in order to facilitate ex-l planations and itshould be well understood that A preferred 'embodiment-of the presentinvenorifice, which win be hereinafter referred to, for

the outlet of said pins.

I provide, within this casing, spiral-shaped slideways or guides.

Theseslideways advantageously consist of two portions d1 and d2respectively xed to said side plates. These slideways are arranged insuch manner that they can guide each one of the ends of the` pins to befed by the magazine, the spiral- 'sh'apd giiideway ending on theoutsideof the ori- 10 nce' above referred to,

1. ...These guideways may-for instance consist of al metallic band fixedat right angles to the corresponding side plate of the casing along aspiral line, such that the successive spires are at a disl5 tance fromone another only slightly greater than th'e diameter of the pins to-be fed by the magazine.

The side plates are provided, irtheir central portions, with bearings;e1, e2 adapted to support a shaft f adapted to turn. freely therein.

In order to push the p'ins with which the magazine is filled toward theoutlet oriiice, I provide along a spiral corresponding to that ofguideways d1, d2, said active end of the arm being prefy erably guidedby said slideways.

To this eiect, shaft f may be provided with a sleeve h laterallycarrying a guide in which arm 35 g .can slide, this, arm and this-guidebeing preferably of rectangular cross section, with its greaterdimension lying in the direction of the axis of shaft f. 40

The dimensions of slideways d1, d2, on the one hand, and of arm g, onthe other hand, are so chosen that, when the active end of said arm islocated opposite the inner ends of said slideways, the other end of saidarm is located at a 45 Adistance as small as possible from the pins thatare present in the rst inner spire of the slideways (position shown indotted lines in Fig. 1).

Elastic meansv are provided for causing' shaft f to rotate in ythedirection that corresponds to 50 the pins being driven by the active endof arm g toward the outlet orifice of the casing.

These elastic means may for instance consist of a spiral spring :i theouter end of which is fixed to a drum lc rigidly carried by thecasingand the inner end of which 1s nxed a5 shaft f itself.

It' will be readily Y understood that, after :shaft f has been rotatedin the direction that winds spring y', when said spring is allowed tounwind, itcauses the shaft/to rotatein the opposite direction. Arm utherforerotates to gether with the shaft while sliding with respect',4

- thereto within guide i, vso that -its active end but it will besimpler to provide a device through' 'which it will be possible todirect y turn shaft f.

Sucha device may for instance c` nsist of a prolonged part of shaft f,said prolonged part being provided withy holes i into which it ispossible to insert a spindle for turning the shaft.

'Ihe outer end of the spiral-shaped slideways is advantageously soarranged that the pins coming from the slideways are guided toward anoutlet conduit m, for instance at right angles to wall c.'V

. To this effect, I provide curved walls such that the pinsfed by themagazine may movealong them when theyare pushed by the-active end of armg.

In 'order to'suitably push out the last pin present in the magazine, theactive end of arm g is made asshown in the drawing, that is to say isprovided with a kind of link n articulated thereto and the free end ofwhich carrlesa transversal element o capable of pushing along thepinwith which it is to come in contact. l

In order' to reduce the frictional stresses as much as possible,the-articulation of link n with arm y and element o are both fitted withrollers of a diameter substantially equal to that of the pins to be fedbythe'magazine'and capable of engaging at. least one of the slideways.

Athe foregoing description the principle of my invention as Link n ismade of a lengthsuch that it may pass through the bend connecting theouter end of the spiral shaped slideway with the outlet conduit m. Onthe other hand this link must be of such a length that, when the.articulation of saidlink. with arm a reaches the end of the slideway.,element o is fully engaged in said out- 4let conduit.

Am g is then preferably mounted in a slightly oblique position withrespect toshaft f, but anyway the axis'about which link n is articulatedt'o arm o is advantageously inclined withl respect .to-the axi's ofshaft f. This inclination is, for instance equall to the mean value ofthe angles that the various objects` present inthe slideways make withthis axis.

v The working and advantages of the'magazine according to my inventionresult clearly from explained.

lOf course, arm o is not necessarily made of a single piece and it mightbe given a telescopic structure so as to permit the spiral-shapedguideways to extend farther toward the inside o'f the casing for a givenouter diameter-of saidveasing.`

While I .have described what'I deem to be a practical andemcient'embodiment of my invention, it should be well understoodthat Ido .1 notwishtobelimited theretoas theremightbe changes made in'thearrangement, disposition' and form of the parts without withinthescopeofthe and need not be further What I claim ist" 1. A-magazineg'for theautomatic feeding of a plurality of objects all ofthe same shape Nidsize, which comprises in combination, a/casing including two side platesand a substantially cylindrical wall connecting said plates to eachother,

two spiral shapedv slideways fixed w said sideplates respectivelyandfacing each other, said slideways being adapted to receive therespective v ends of said objects side by side therein, so that saidobjects extend from one slideway to the other, a shaft journalled insaid `side plates centrally with respect to said slideways, an elementslidably carried by said shaft on an arm `extending in a directionsubstantially at right angles to v objects being pushed toward the outerend of said slideways by said end of the arm, said cylindrical wall ofthe casing bein'g provided with an outlet orifice opposite said outerends of the slideways.

2. A magazine according to claim 1 further comprising an outlet conduitsubstantially at right angles to saidcylindrlcal wall of the casing,-

located opposite said outer ends of the slideways, and bentwallsconnecting said outer ends of the slideways with said outletconduit, the curvature of said bent walls being such that saidtransverse element is capable of .pushing the last objec into saidoutlet conduit.

to said shaft. means for causing said element to.

move along said slideway, a link pivoted to said element, a transverseelement carried by the free end of sai link adapted tomove along saidslideway and t push the last object in the slideway, said link havingits fre'e end on the same iside, relatively to said slidable element, assaid shaft, and elastic means for'causing said shaft to turn in thedirection that corresponds to the objects being pushed toward the outerend of saidl -slideway by said end of the arm.

4. A magazine'for the automatic feeding of 'objects au of the man andshape. which comprises, at least one'spiral shaped slideway adapted toreceive said objects side by side there- `right angles to the axis ofthe shaft,4 a member ontheendofsaidarmengaginginandguided by saidslideway, a li'nkpivoted on the end of saidarm,andasecondmembermo|mtedonthefree said shaft,jsaid element beinglocated to one aouse n I 5. A magazine for the automatic feeding ofobjects all of the same shape and size, which comprises, at least onespiral shaped slideway adapted. to receive said objects side by sidetherein, a shaft disposed within said slideway, an arm carried by saidshaft at one side thereof and rotatable therewith, said arm beingslidable with respect to said shaft at right angles to the axis of theshaft, a link pivoted on the end of said arm,

.10 said link having its free end on the same side relatively to saidarm, as said shaft, said free end engaging and pushing the last objectin the slideway, and elastic means for causing said shaft to turn insuch a direction as to push the objects out oi' the slideway.

6. A magazine for the automatic feeding of objects all of the samesizeand shape, which comprises, at least one spiral shaped slidewayadapted to receive said objects side side therein, a shaft disposedwithin said slideway, an arm carried by said shaft at one side thereofand rotatable therewith, said arm being slidable with respect to saidshaft at right angles to the axis of the shaft, a member on the end ofsaid arm engaging in a guide by said slideway. a link pivoted on the endof said arm, said link having its free end on the same side, relativelyto said arm. as said shaft, and a second member mounted on the free endof said link engaging in and guided by said slideway, said last memberengaging and pushing the last object in the slideway. and elastic'meansfor causing said shaft to turn in such a direction as to push theobjects out of the slide'way.

MARC BIRKIGT.

